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Science Blogs-2008

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A federal budget, yes, but compromises hurt UO & national physics
Despite agreement by the White House and the Democrat-controlled Congress that science funding is important, the new 2008 federal budget, approved with compromise and rather quietly in December, ended up gutting, at least temporarily, the nation's physics programs. UO's physics department, as a result, was hit hard.
Of culture and tool use: tap into your left parietal cortex
Functional MRI is showing that a person's pantomiming or performing a task involving tools draws from the brain's left hemisphere, and that becomes a problem when a brain injury is involved, says the UO's Scott Frey in a new report
On the road to Paisley, Oregon, to see the caves of the human coprolites
Work of Dennis Jenkins draws a visit from the Jim Lehrer NewsHour and a visit to the archaeological site
graphics
 
More photos from Paisley Caves
 
UO sci/research tidbits
Various news items from around campus that might be worth chewing on -- or, at least, knowing about
UO's Guillemin develops a fruit fly model for studying infectious diseases
New approach shows how a bacterium's toxic protein can manipulate a signaling pathway, providing a new window for researchers studying a variety of bacteria
PLoS Pathogens cover May 16
 
Time to pursue a 'low carbon society'?
U.S. National Academy of Sciences and other agencies/organizations call for countries to wean themselves off fossil fuel dependency
History Channel looks at dung -- from the Paisley Caves
History Channel segment on "All About Dung," airing June 30, features UO archaeological work at Oregon's Paisley Caves
All About Dung ... AND ... Jim Lehrer NewsHour
The UO's Dennis Jenkins appeared on two television networks in one night (the Jim Lehrer NewsHour on PBS and The History Channel) on Monday, June 30, to talk about the human DNA found in ancient human excrement.
Wealth does not dictate concern for environment
University of Oregon sociologist Richard York is co-author on a study with an Oklahoma State colleague on an article in The Sociological Quarterly. The study finds that that citizens of poorer nations are just as concerned about environmental quality as their counterparts in rich nations.
On science, the candidates say ...
The presidential hopefuls were given a list of questions about their views on science. The answers are in.
Have you seen it? The new issue of Cascade?
The cover story "The Doctor is in" looks at a connection between the UO and local physicians that has helped revive the UO's human physiology department ... but look further and you'll see an awesome new magazine of the College of Arts and Sciences
Science/Research Blog

Jim Barlow -- blog art photoVisit Jim's  SciBlog, an informal look at research news.

Newest Additions:

Sept. 23 -- Check out the Fall 2008 Cascade! You won't be disappointed.

Sept. 22 -- Presidential politics have centered on the Iraq war and the U.S. economy. Now the two candidates discuss science in their responses to 14 questions.

Science in the Northwest now has central Web showcase

Logo for Science Northwest, a collaborative regional news site for leading academic research institutions

Looking for the latest research news in the Northwest? Collaborating science writers at the leading Northwest research institutions now have a clearinghouse dedicated to the region's major institutions. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory now hosts Science Northwest. Check it out!

Integrated Marketing and Strategic Communications

                                                          "O"

What makes the University of Oregon a special and unique place? How do we share this information with the rest of the world?

These are the questions the university’s Integrated Marketing and Strategic Communications Task Force (IMSC) has been charged with answering. Read more about the effort HERE.

 
UO physicist Dave Soper to share a top 2009 APS prize

UO physics professor Dave Soper is a 2009 winner of the J.J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Physics. He will share the prize with John Collins (Penn State) and Keith Ellis (Fermilab) when presented formally in May during the American Physical Society's annual meeting in Denver. Soper was cited for his "work in perturbative quantum chromodynamics, including applications to problems pivotal to the interpretation of high-energy particle collisions." Quantum chromodynamics is a theory of strong nuclear interactions among quarks -- fundamental constituents of matter.

The prize honors J.J. Sakarai, a Japanese-American particle physicist who authored leading textbooks on quantum mechanics and the principles of elementary particles during a career at the University of Chicago and UCLA. This year's winners bring the total numbers of honorees to 36, including three who later won the Nobel Prize.

UO's Hutchison is part of ACS's touting of global sustainability via chemistry

Face shot of Jim HutchisonCheck out Jim Hutchison's participation in an American Chemical Society production of its "Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions" Podcast, in which the society says: "Faced with concerns about dwindling petroleum supplies and environmental pollution, we must begin to consume in a new and more sustainable way." (Listen in)

Also, still available is a report featuring Hutchison by ScienCentral: Some are calling it a revolution in manufacturing technology. But, will nanotechnology be a "green" industry? It’s a question that some scientists are saying needs to be answered now, before nanotech goes big-time. (Check it out)

NPR interviews UO's Frey and hand-transplant recipient about renewed hand-brain connection

Scott Frey-faceNational Public Radio’s science correspondent Richard Knox reported on new research by the UO’s Scott Frey, who has found that a hand-transplant recipient’s brain is re-mapping its connection – to a donor’s hand the recipient received 35 years after losing his in an industrial accident. Knox talked to the patient, and Frey. (Read and Listen)

Investors worried, tuned into news reports, UO psychologists tell Wall Street Journal writer

Paul Slovic mug shot    Two with University of Oregon ties named to new FDA risk advisory panel

Since 2001, investors’ comfort zone with their stocks has nose-dived from little worry about negative returns to growing worry about their stocks going nowhere for maybe a decade, reports UO psychologist Paul Slovic in an interview with Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Zweig about today’s economy. In same article, UO psychologist Ellen Peters notes that American investors are spending a lot of time following, especially on TV news, the economic turmoil. Zweig’s column, however, carries the message that those who have some cash and can conquer their stock-phobia may be a good position, likening their potential investments to a venture in emerging markets. (Read story – may require paid subscription)

 

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